First for me, need advice

[jwggriff]

We had a two week old calf die/disappear. We have searched for two days on our 50 acres but have not found any signs of him. Does the momma cow need a shot to dry her milk up if the calf cannot be located. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Caustic Burno]

We had a two week old calf die/disappear. We have searched for two days on our 50 acres but have not found any signs of him. Does the momma cow need a shot to dry her milk up if the calf cannot be located. Any advice would be appreciated.

Don't worry about the cow, I would be more worried which low life is eating veal. I have lost a lot a calves over the years and there is always some sign, bones, hide, buzzards coyotes or something cleaning up the scraps.
Scotty didn't beam it up on the Enterprise.

 

[lavacarancher]

JW, don't mean to offer anything you don't already know but moma's will put their calves down while they feed. I've looked for them before and never found them. I hope that's what's happening here. Otherwise like CB said.

 

[Ruark]

Hard to say - could be hidden by the mama cow. If coyotes got it, there are almost always scraps of bone and hide scattered here and there; they really "party" when they tear into something. If you are 100% sure there are NO remains whatsoever, that narrows it down to two llikely culprits: feral hogs, which will eat the bones and everything, and a big cat (mountain lion, puma...), which will pick it up and walk off with it, leaving nothing, maybe not even prints. If it was a bunch of feral hogs, they'd make hoofprints all over the place.

 

[Brute 23]

Walk around and beller like a cow.... the calf might come to you. ;-)

 

[dun]

Does the cow act agitated at anytime, does her udder ever look like it's been sucked?

 

[cmf1]

Moving cows two years ago and a calf was hidden.
Didn't take long to find it cause the paddocks aren't that big.
Walked up to it and when it stood up I started grunting to it like momma and it followed me like a dog all the way into the next pasture through two gates where all the others had been moved to.
Momma was a little hot that I had found it and that it was following me, but she got over it pretty quick.
As I recall it was somewhere less than a week old.

 

[Caustic Burno]

You can bet if that calf just disappeared your varmit is a bipod and drove off. Everything leaves sign you are not reading it. Once the calf was thought to be missing was time to walk the perimeter and look for your varmit. Hog can't come in and not leave sign, they will get a newborn odds on a two week old calf are slim. Predator is going to leave sign I don't care if it was Siberian Tiger that dead calf is going to draw buzzards especially the black headed ones.
Dogs would just kill and leave it for the coyotes to party on, coyotes aren't likely as they are cowards. Many a calf gets killed by fido and his buddies laying on the porch that get blamed on yotes. Dogs will kill everything they can catch and leave it. Again if it is a four legged varmit there is sign and buzzards.

 

[jwggriff]

Well yall were right. The calf must have been hidden during our searching for it during the last two days. It was injured and has limited use of one rear leg. The momma was going to the calf that was hidden and taking care of it. I took one of our dogs into the pasture and the momma ran to where the calf was hidden. Calf is at the vet now trying to determine what extent the damage is to that leg. Thanks for all the advice!

 

[odz]

We had a two week old calf die/disappear. We have searched for two days on our 50 acres but have not found any signs of him. Does the momma cow need a shot to dry her milk up if the calf cannot be located. Any advice would be appreciated.

Don't worry about the cow, I would be more worried which low life is eating veal. I have lost a lot a calves over the years and there is always some sign, bones, hide, buzzards coyotes or something cleaning up the scraps.
Scotty didn't beam it up on the Enterprise.

Weird thing is that i lost my first calf with my first cow. i never found the calf and i could not find any other signs. later in the year i noticed wild hogs in the area, but yet i never found any signs. i still believe that someone out there enjoyed a nice family dinner on my behalf.

 

[hillsdown]

Well yall were right. The calf must have been hidden during our searching for it during the last two days. It was injured and has limited use of one rear leg. The momma was going to the calf that was hidden and taking care of it. I took one of our dogs into the pasture and the momma ran to where the calf was hidden. Calf is at the vet now trying to determine what extent the damage is to that leg. Thanks for all the advice!

I hope your calf will be alright, best of luck .

Dun gave great advice, if you cannot fin a calf first check the dam to see if she has been nursing, if she has and seems content that would be indicative to her hiding a calf, but you still need to find the calf as they could have an injury, like yours, or are sick. Bringing in the dogs with you was a good idea and am glad it worked.

 

[Caustic Burno]

We had a two week old calf die/disappear. We have searched for two days on our 50 acres but have not found any signs of him. Does the momma cow need a shot to dry her milk up if the calf cannot be located. Any advice would be appreciated.

Don't worry about the cow, I would be more worried which low life is eating veal. I have lost a lot a calves over the years and there is always some sign, bones, hide, buzzards coyotes or something cleaning up the scraps.
Scotty didn't beam it up on the Enterprise.

Weird thing is that i lost my first calf with my first cow. i never found the calf and i could not find any other signs. later in the year i noticed wild hogs in the area, but yet i never found any signs. i still believe that someone out there enjoyed a nice family dinner on my behalf.

First if the cow ain't bawlin that calf aint missing, second all varmits leave sign of a kill or some scraps.
I lost a calf few years back, cow was walking the place bawlin, so I walked the perimeter first thing found foot prints coming through the back woods and a beer can. I don't drink beer and the tracks were smaller than mine.
I didn't say a word to anyone about it, people like to talk it will come out someday and I already have a pretty good idea who it was.

 

[Dixieangus]

I lost a calf few years back, cow was walking the place bawlin, so I walked the perimeter first thing found foot prints coming through the back woods and a beer can. I don't drink beer and the tracks were smaller than mine.
I didn't say a word to anyone about it, people like to talk it will come out someday and I already have a pretty good idea who it was.

Stole your calf? now thats a new low

 

[dieselbeef]

Don't worry about the cow, I would be more worried which low life is eating veal. I have lost a lot a calves over the years and there is always some sign, bones, hide, buzzards coyotes or something cleaning up the scraps.
Scotty didn't beam it up on the Enterprise.[/quote]


yep..shoot the small ones so they can carry em off..happening round here too..not like ya can carry off a 400 lb'er